Hari Kunzru

On August 31st I interviewed the artist Ryan Trecartin in New York city. Katie Kitamura participated virtually in this interview. Hence the composite K/K identity. Trecartin's video work is some of the most important and exciting art being made in the US today. Below is a 1500 word edit of a very long conversation, made in collaboration with the artist.

 As I write, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been in detention for 51 days and 6 hours. I know this so precisely because someone who goes by the handle loveaiww has placed a counter on the web. On the door of my apartment is a poster with a silhouette of Ai, made from a photograph taken during a period when he was interested in getting (and giving) weird haircuts.

 Ai Weiwei has not been seen since April 3rd. Here are a few images from today's shambolic but well-attended protest outside the Consulate of the PRC in Manhattan. 

 I wrote about #foursquare, religious ecstasy, court masque, crying, money and the cult of Marina Abramovic for Mute magazine.

Judging by Radical Nature: Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969-2009 (Barbican, now until 18th October 2009), Nature (with a capital N) is in crisis. It’s not just the familiar ecological message of the show – that the planet is fragile and we’re not helping matters – but something more unsettling, almost uncanny. It feels like Nature is shrinking.